Thoughts of a Native Son

I hope this project acts as a testament of the continual injustices that the United States has propagated against its own citizens and those down trodden in the rest of the world. I would like this website to touch the hearts and minds of my fellow countrymen who I fear are lost. May my words be a light in the darkness to find a better tomorrow for all of mankind.

The United States of America is a lost cause. The systems and institutions that have been in place for nearly 250 years must be rewritten completely. Like a dilapidated house: they must be deconstructed, destroyed, razed, and rebuilt into something entirely different for the sake of all the people residing in its walls. This country is a lost cause but her people are not. At the creation of this nation there was a sickness an infestation in the minds of its founders that till this day has never been cured/ exterminated from the minds of their descendants and their subjects. The bedrock of this country was built with that same sickness infesting its foundations and over the centuries we have built a house on top of the same rot. There is no wonder why the nation is where it is at today.

Over these two centuries we have built on top of this rotting framework higher and higher attempting to reach heaven. To do this our chosen representatives have chosen to lie about how we got to where we are. Native American Genocide and Slavery rot the underpinning of our house. We have hid away the true rot as we dealt with the most visual symptoms. In modern times most of us have been fooled to believe that we have taken care of the problem. 1965, 2008 are great years that represent how far we have come in this country. However, the rot is still present within the systems of government the founders have built and it has spread to new institutions we ourselves built. Thankfully our most observant and dedicated inspectors understood that this decay is deep and has spread throughout all we have built over our two and a half centuries. Sadly, the rest of us haven’t listened. We have been lead astray by the building managers assuring everything is fine and there is not rot nor decay to fear. We are living in a “sturdy structure”. They say this all the while painting of the mold and replacing boards and beams that keep the building from caving in on itself.

The idea of white supremacy is a real thing that we must fear and seek to destroy. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise and if they do ask yourself are they a manager or do they work for the managers of this building. Ideas are real and can become influential movements. They are intangible and often times difficult to define, but like a transparent object if the light catches it right you can definitely make out it is present. Ideas are extremely hard to kill and often change shape and form throughout time. Humans share and transport ideas not only through space but also through time. Parents teach their children who to love and who to hate, then their children grow up to have children of their own. So, the cycle repeats. Institutions are created and upkept by these people, so their beliefs and ideals are brought into the institutions. Rot and decay spread fast when they go untreated. Knowingly and Unknowingly people help it spread.

As a black man who was born into this country, I have always had to battle with my two identities. Am I black first or am I American first. In a way that answer has always and already been answered. White Americans call themselves Americans. Everyone else must have an adjective/ identifier attached before the word American. African American, Asian American, Mexican American, Native American and so forth are identifiers of our ethnicities or race. As a young man I have slowly woken up from my dream of a post racial America into the reality that is this dilapidated house. My ancestors were brought to this country to be slaves. My people all over the world have been debased, colonized, and dehumanized. White supremacy has created the narrative that Black people and Africans are weak of mind but strong in body, perfect for manual labor but not so much for intellectual ventures. We are weak in character, weak impulse control, and are violent in nature. We are lazy and will look for any way to get out of work. We can not govern ourselves. Sadly these stereotypes do exist in our culture but they do not exist in a vacuum and they do not define us as a people. History shows us the causes of my peoples struggles and how we have overcame such oppression. The descendants of the people who enslaved us continue to prosper from the systems and institutions that were built for them. I am a descendant of Captives brought to the “Promised Land” to serve the “Promised People”. I, nor my ancestors, nor my descendants were never meant to reap the fruit that our own hands sown in this land. I woke up from my slumber and now I have a responsibility to wake others up and maybe we can tear down this dilapidated house and build something new.

It has been a minute since I have written and published a piece on this website. I have been working on multiple projects in conjunction of trying to hold down a full time job and take care of a family. So, my time to sit and write is sparse. Thankfully it is summer as I am writing now; I have two months of uninterrupted time to focus on my thoughts of the ongoing decline of my country. Those unfinished projects will be published but I am looking to make “A Captive in the Promised Land” take front and center as a series of what is has been like growing up as a black man in America. I hope those who find this website actually gain a new perspective from what I have to write. I value anyone who takes the time and reads what I have to say. Sorry to those who have been waiting for more. I hope you enjoy this series that is coming soon.

I shall remind you a great inspiration of mine to create this website/ blog was James Baldwin. For those unfamiliar of who James Baldwin was I suggest you go read Notes of a Native Son and A Fire Next Time. These two books are essential to learning and understanding the man James Baldwin was and what he believed. A quote or phrase that has stuck with me since I have read Notes of a Native Son is “A Captive in the Promised Land”. This phrase describes the paradox that Black Americans must live in while being a part of the United States. I will continue to use this as my title for my next few articles. I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.

SINCERELY YOURS,

Nathaniel Douglas